Meeting a Shadow
by stingxlucy1322
Summary: Lucy was finally able to take a job by herself once the Tenrou team returned after seven years. She left without Natsu and the rest of her team knowing, wanting to actually get the full reward for once. On her mission though, she meets -in her opinion- a gorgeous man. He was from a guild she had never heard of, but he knew her. She'd like to know him as well.


**There needs to be more Rogue x Lucy stories.**

The participants from the S-Class exams had finally returned from Tenrou island and had partied nonstop through the whole night. The next day, Lucy had found out about her father's death. She couldn't believe that seven year had actually passed. To her, it felt like only a few days had passed. Apparently while they were gone, Fairy Tail had hit rock bottom. She felt bad for the members that had waited for them, all of the heartache and loneliness they felt while everyone was gone. But now they were back and needed to rise to the top.

Lucy was very grateful to her father for paying seven years worth of rent, but she was still broke. Which meant work. But, if she wanted the full reward, it would have to be a solo. Solo was almost impossible to get with a team like hers. So, she opted in sneaking it to Mira.

When she entered the guild that day, she sighed in relief when the only person from her team that she saw was Gray. He could easily be distracted. Glancing around and finding her goal, she walked over to the hiding Water Mage and gave her a bright smile. "Good morning, Juvia."

"Love Rival."

Her smile never left as she continued, "Gray told me something very interesting yesterday. Would you like to hear?" When the other woman slowly nodded, she smirked and leaned closer. "He told me he loves when women give him tight hugs for a long time. He'll get upset and try to push you away, but that's only because he's embarrassed." She winked at the beaming bluenette and walked over to the request board, hearing Juvia yell happily and a panicked shout from her teammate.

After choosing one that was simple and payed good, she brought it over to Mira and placed it on the bar. "Good morning, Lucy. Taking a solo?" Mira smiled and marked down the job.

"Yup! I really need the money." Lucy sighed.

"That was pretty cruel of you, Blondie." The rumbling voice of Laxus was heard next to her, amusement in his words.

She shrugged and grabbed the flyer, folding it and stuffing it in the pocket of her shorts. "I can't even look at the request board without my team breathing down my neck about it. I had to do something. I need more money, not less." She waved to them before quickly making her way out of the guild, not feeling the slightest bit sorry for her teammate who was currently suffocating in the Water Mage's bust.

She already had Virgo pack her things before she left and it was with the spirit safely in the Celestial Realm. All she had to do was buy a train ticket with the little money she had left. After she made it and bought a ticket, she found a free seat on the train and let out a small sigh while glancing out of the window. The job was in Shirotsume which meant she would have to get comfortable for the long ride. The job she chose was easy, just stop some bandits that were attacking people who enter and leave the town. The flyer said that victim saw the bandits use magic, so she would have to be careful. But the pay was one hundred thousand, there was no way she would pass it up. She believed in herself.

* * *

Lucy made her way through a forest with a frown. She had been walking for hours and there was no sign of the bandits, plus, her feet were aching like crazy. These were the times she didn't mind having Natsu with her, he could easily track them by smell or listening for any other signs of life. So far, she hasn't even seen an animal. The mayor hadn't given her much information about their magic, just that someone saw one of them shoot fire from a stick and they were apparently a part of a small dark guild. He showed her a picture of their guild mark; which was two swords crossed, making an X. Using a stick for magic meant they were wielders so all she had to do was take the stick and she could take them down. Simple enough.

She hoped.

She quickly turned and placed a hand on her keys when she heard rustling in some bushed behind her. She glared at the moving leafs and got into a fighting stance. She let out a breath and laughed quietly when a small rabbit hopped out and looked right at her with curiosity. "Hello there little guy, you scared me." She smiled and turned, only to freeze when her face collided with a solid chest. She looked up into green eyes filled with amusement. "H-Hello." She took a step back with a nervous laugh. "Sorry about that."

"Not a problem." His deep voice came out raspy, almost as if he'd been smoking for years. He grabbed her left hand and placed a kiss to it. "What is a lovely girl like you doing out here alone? I heard that there were bandits around these parts."

She blushed lightly at how soft his lips were. "Y-Yeah, actually I'm here to take-" She stopped herself when her eyes caught the bright red mark on his neck. Crossed swords. When he looked up at her, expecting the rest of the answer, she smiled. Play it cool. "I'm here to take some money to my friend in town. The forest was quicker than the road."

"You walked?"

"I did. I don't live too far from here, I'm from Crocus." She hid her right hand behind her so he wouldn't see her guild mark. "What brings you here?"

"Hunting." He smirks, his eyes roaming her body.

She swallowed when she saw his eyes flash a bit, stopping at her hip. ' _Shit, my keys.'_ She bit her lip and took another step back. "I better get going, my friend is waiting." When he took a step forward and reached a hand towards her, she glared at him and pulled out a key. "Loke!"

"You're knight in shining armor has arrived." The lion spirit grinned and clenched his fist.

"So you _are_ a mage." The man growled and jumped back before Loke could land a hit on him. He snapped his fingers and at least a dozen other men came from the tree tops. "They sent a little girl to take us down? Pathetic."

"I'm a grown ass woman, thank you very much!" She crossed her arms and her glare hardened. "I'm actually twenty-four!"

"I don't give a damn if you're eighty, we'll still take you down!" His eyes went back to her hip. "And it looks like you have a lot of golden keys there, bad for you but good for our wallets."

Lucy placed a hand over her keys. "I won't let you lay a finger on my spirits! Let's go Loke!"

"Right!"

As Loke started attacking some of the members, she used her whip to send the other members away while she ran toward the man she had encountered. She snapped her whip at him and he jumped away. She went to send another attack when all of a sudden her body froze. Panic filled her chest when she looked down and saw dark, cool tendrils circling her legs, stomach, and arms. She looked back up to the smirking man. "So you're not a holder type. Good to know. Does that make you the guild master?"

"Clever girl." He chuckled and sent his shadows to her spirit, the dark magic piercing through his chest.

Loke let out a loud scream and started to fade. "Sorry, Princess."

"Loke!" Lucy glared at the man and struggled against her bindings. "I'll make you pay you asshole!"

"Such a dirty mouth for a pretty face." He cackled and took a step forward. "Maybe I'll shut it up for good. Say goodbye." His eyes then land on the bright pink mark on her right hand. "And a Fairy at that! You must be one of the members that returned, right?" He roughly grabbed her chin and licked his lips. "Such a waste, you're a sight for sore eyes."

Lucy's eyes widened when his hand slid from her chin to wrap around her throat. ' _Natsu, help me!_ ' She whimpered and tried with all her might to break free, but to no avail. Was this really it? Was she going to die here? She felt so pathetic, she easily took out the other members, but underestimated the guild master. How foolish of her. Black dots started to fill her vision and with the last bit of strength she had, she tried breaking free again. She was pleasantly surprised when she was able to pull her fist back and slam it into his jaw. She fell to her knees and gasped for air while the man stumbled back.

"You bitch! How did you escape my shadows?" He pulled a leg back to kick her but found himself frozen, almost as if he was using his magic on himself.

"She escaped because your pitiful magic can barely be called shadows."

Lucy shivered at the smooth, deep voice that filled the air. She turned her watering eyes to the voice and her breath hitched. He was gorgeous. His slightly messy hair was as dark as his magic that was wrapped around her attacker, it was longer and almost touching his shoulders and covering his right eye, the one visible eye the color of a ruby with a slit pupil, and pale skin. He wore a long black cloak with a grey shirt under, along with a waist guard that had four pieces of cloth that reached to his knees, finished when black pants and brown boots.

"Who the hell are you, and why can't I use my magic?!" The guild master growled at the mysterious man.

"You can use it, it just won't work on me." The man said and crossed his arms and tightened his shadows around the angry man. "As for who I am, that is none of your concern."

The guild master's eyes widened when he saw that all of his members were wrapped tightly in shadows. He could never dream of producing that much magic all at once. He looked to the ground and his eyes widened when he saw the shadows that he was trying to use being absorbed by the dark haired stranger. His eyes honed in on the guild mark on his cloak. "Y-You... You're from Sabertooth! P-Please, I'm sorry, just let me go! I promise not to cause you any more trouble!"

The Sabertooth mage ignored the man and made his way over to Lucy who was staring at him with a small flush on her cheeks. He couldn't help but think she was quite cute. "Are you alright?"

Lucy snapped out of her ogling and nodded before standing. "Y-Yes, thank you, um.."

"Rogue."

"Rogue." She repeated with a smile. "You really saved me there." She stuck her hand out, mentally cursing when her cheeks warms as his hand slid into hers and gave it a small shake. "I'm Lucy."

"I know."

Lucy blinked and brought her hand back to her side. "U-Um.."

Rogue's eyes widened slightly and cleared his throat. "I apologize, that came out wrong. I meant that I know of you. Lucy Heartfilia of Fairy Tail, the members that went missing seven years ago recently returned. You were a part of the missing members, correct?"

"I-I was." She awkwardly shuffled in place. "I guess it was the talk of Fiore, huh."

"For a long time, yes."

"Sorry to disrupt your little chit chat, but I'm still here!" The guild master shouted, annoyed.

Rogue tightened his shadowed around the man and kept his eyes on Lucy as he spoke, "I know, I'm still deciding as to what I will do to you."

Lucy shuffled in place and folded her hands behind her back, her eyes drifting to the ground. "A-Actually, Rogue, I came here on a job to capture these guys. I underestimated the guild master and he took me by surprise."

"I see. Then," Rogue used his shadows to group all of the members together, "have any rope?"

She looked up at him once again and smiled before quickly summoning Virgo. She thanked the spirit when she appeared with rope, awkwardly declining the maid when she asked for punishment. After her spirit disappeared, she walked over to the men that were wrapped in black tendrils and quickly wrapped the rope around them a few times before tying a knot at the end. "There, that should do the trick." She nodded and turned to face Rogue, watching in awe as his magic slithered back into him. "Thank you for all your help."

"It was nothing."

"It was something! You saved my life." She walked over to him until she was barely an inch away.

"You were in trouble, I did what any decent person would do." He swallowed as he looked down into her shining brown eyes.

"At least let me properly thank you. After I call the Rune Knights and they take these guys away, let me treat you to dinner." She smiled warmly at him.

Rogue felt his heart rate quicken and slowly nodded, before quickly shaking his head. "I can't, not tonight. I'm on a mission with my partners right now." Speaking of, Rogue glanced around in a panic when he realized he had left Frosh when he heard her cry.

"I see." Lucy pushed her lip out in a pout, she was really hoping she could hit it off with this guy. She noticed his panicked look and placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?" She jumped in surprise when he let out a loud cry.

"Frosch?" Rogue yelled and took a few step away from her."Frosch!"

"Rogue!"

Lucy turned when she heard the whimper and saw a green cat in a pink frog costume flying towards Rogue. He crashed into the shadow mage and she smiled softly at how relieved Rogue looked. When the cat faced her, she let out a small squeal. "Oh you're the cutest exceed I've ever seen!" She reached out and snatched the cat from Rogue's arms without a single care and crushed the confused animal to her chest.

"Fro thinks so too!" As long as Frosch got attention-loving-, he didn't care about much. Besides, the lady seemed nice.

Rogue blinked and felt a little jealous towards his partner that was being crushed into Lucy's large chest. "I'm sorry I left you, Frosch."

Frosch's head peeked up and he smiled brightly. "It's okay, Rogue. Sting is looking for you."

"Of course." Rogue sighed and Frosch flew over to him. "I should probably go. It was nice meeting you."

Lucy sighed and pouted once again. "Leaving already? But I wanted to get to know you."

He stared at her in slight surprise. "What?"

"I said I wanted to get to know you. You did save my life after all." She chuckled quietly.

He shuffled in place and awkwardly glanced around the forest. He'd never done anything like this before. "Well then, how about we meet up for dinner later?"

She blushed and beamed at him. "Sounds great! I don't really know this town very well so how about we meet at my hotel. I'm staying at- wait I thought you were on a mission?"

' _Damnit, I forgot. I was too distracted by how well she was with Frosch._ ' He looked back at her and saw how her eyes shined at his offer for dinner. "We're almost done anyways, I can talk to Sting about it."

"Talk to Sting about what?"

Lucy turned her head and felt her jaw drop slightly at the man that walked over to Rogue. Was this Rogue's partner? Was their guild filled with only gorgeous men or what? He had messy blonde hair, a scar across his right eyebrow, deep blue eyes, sharp canines that peeked from his mouth as he yawned, his left ear pierced with a crystal earring, a blue vest lined with grey fur, a light brown shirt that only covered his chest and half of his neck to expose his amazing six-pack, suspenders attached to baggy black and whit pants and black boots, finished off with bark blue gloves that rose to his biceps. ' _I can't tell if this guy or Rogue is more attractive._ '

"Oh Sting, how did you find me?" Rogue asked.

Sting tapped his nose and chuckled. "Slayer nose."

"Slayer?" Lucy whispered.

Sting eyed the blonde girl and smirked. She looked very familiar but he couldn't place his finger on it. She was really hot though. He walked over to her and grabbed her right hand, placing a kiss on it. He let his lips hover over her hand as he glanced up at her through his lashes, smirking when he saw the deep flush staining her cheeks. "Sting." He whispered and brought his head up, raising an eyebrow when he saw her guild mark. ' _Fairy Tail?_ '

"L-Lucy." She brought her hand to her chest. She felt like her face was on fire as his eyes roamed her body.

"Lucy Heartfilia, from Fairy Tail huh? Who would have thought we'd bump into you here." Sting walked back over to his partner, looking up to see that Lector finally caught up to them. The little red cat deactivated his wings and landed lightly onto the ground.

"Why does everyone know me?" Lucy crossed her arms. She looked at the new cat and her eyes lit up. "Another one? Oh you're so cute!" She quickly scooped up the red cat and hugged him into her bosom like she did with Frosch.

"Hmph!" Lector struggled in her hold, pushing against her to escape but to no avail.

Sting chuckled, feeling a little jealous of the cat, and walked over to her before pulling his friend from the squealing woman. "Not to be rude, but he doesn't like to be suffocated in breasts."

Lucy blushed. "S-Sorry!"

Sting placed Lector down and wrapped and arm around her shoulders. "Me on the other hand-"

"Sting, we'll have to finish the mission tomorrow, I'm going to dinner with Lucy tonight." It took everything inside of Rogue not to growl at his partner.

Sting blinked and took his arm off of the girl. "Seriously? She agreed to have dinner with _you_?"

"Actually-" Rogue started before Lucy cut him off.

"I asked him. My treat since he saved my life." Lucy smiled.

Sting had no words. His usually anti-social partner was actually going on a date. And it was Lucy freaking Heartfilia. Literally the hottest girl Sting had ever seen, and she was going on a date with Rogue Cheney. "You're fucking with me, right?" When she shook her head, he ran a hand though his hair. "Wow, um, I have no words. Uh, have fun?"

"Why are you so surprised?" Lucy tilted her head.

"Because the hottest girl in Fiore just asked _Rogue_ to dinner." Sting muttered.

"Are you jealous?" She laughed.

"No," ' _Yes._ ' "I'm just shocked he actually agreed, usually he doesn't like to socialize." Sting sighed.

"Well, there's always time for a change. I Just need to call the Rune Knights and then we can go on that date." She winked.

"D-Date?" Rogue internally cursed when he felt his cheeks start to get warm.

Lucy laughed and walked over to him before looping her arm through his. "If that's okay with you."

Rogue swallowed and slowly nodded. "Y-Yeah."

Sting chuckled and he watched them. ' _Perhaps she will be able to get him out of his shell. She seems like she'd be good for him. Good job, Rogue._ '


End file.
